Super Stations

[Mister B]

Yes, and just to stroll down memory lane, in the early 1970's Las Cruces, NM cable was just the El Paso stations and channels 5, 9, 11 and 13 from Los Angeles. It is what made me want to see LA and I eventually moved out there for a number of years. The California channels were brought in by microwave and I believe where carried as far east as Van Horn, Texas.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have a question:
I own a independent station "full-power" in the Orlando's (Florida) metropolitan area. I license Non-original programming nationally. Called Orlando SuperStation. Run local news, Sitcom, series and original programming. and if make a contract to distribute via DISH network. How considering my channel?

anybody can call their station a "superstation". The thing is the FCC has designated what is considered a superstation and that is from the 70's.

 

[Jim S.]

there were lots of stations that were considered regional "superstations". KMSP in Minneapolis was one for this area. Most cable companies had it as far away as North and South Dakota. Even when it was a UPN affiliate they still kept it

WPHL in Philadelphia used to be available at least as far as central Pennsylvania. I miss the Mummers Parade, there's no satellite backhaul anymore and their web stream is worthless when it even works at all.

 

[ChadT41]

anybody can call their station a "superstation". The thing is the FCC has designated what is considered a superstation and that is from the 70's.

But they are "SUPER".

 

[jegrant]

To the gentleman from the Orlando station: Didn't WACX used to be on Sky Angel years ago? I notice you already have a Roku channel. If you are interested in being on Dish Network, I would assume the easiest way to do that would be pursuing carriage as a Public Interest channel, the same way that TBN and others are carried. Yes, you do have to pay for carriage, but it is cheaper than, for example, what an infomercial channel would have to pay. Other than that, I would say maybe try to promote your Roku channel more.

 

[dishrich]

there were lots of stations that were considered regional "superstations"

Yep, back in the 60's thru the middle 80's, many cable systems in IL (ours included) carried KPLR-11 St.Louis, via a microwave link. Back then, it was your typical independent station with reruns & other prog that none of our (5) local channels carried back then. (it's now your typical CW affiliate) Our local system also used to carry KETC-9 PBS St.Louis & the "local" WGN-Chicago BEFORE it was put up on satellite as a SS!

Back in those days, because our local CBS affiliate never carried the network's late night prog, our system would even switch KETC to KMOX-CBS St.Louis (now KMOV) at 10:30PM until the following early AM, so that we could get those late-night shows. (our system was ONLY a 12-channel system back then, hence why they switched channels like that!) They even for a time had it set so that as soon as our local PBS-12 went off the air, it automatically switched over to WSNS-44 Chicago (another Chicago independent station back then) until the PBS came back on the next AM.

 

[Mr Tony]

I remember when we first got cable in 1990 (moved into town) there were 3 superstations on cable. I know one was WOR (the satellite feed) and I **think** WPIX was another. I dont remember the other one but I know it WASNT WGN or TBS as WOR was up around 32 or 33. TBS & WGN have been in limited basic (lifeline) forever. TBS has been on 7 and WGN was on 12 but got bumped to 22 about 10 years ago.

 

[Mr Tony]

Probably might have had a regional terrestrial microwave feed.

yup they were. We had KMSP in Duluth (180 miles away from Mpls) on cable the 1st time I lived there (2000-2002). Watching during the day was the dreaded grey box of "due to fcc regulations we must black out this program" when there was a syndicated show that Duluth locals had rights (usually real late at night).

We lost it in 2002 when the aforementioned FOX/UPN switch happened since Duluth had a Fox affiliate.

 

[RONZ]

In Michigan Detroit's WKBD and WXON signals were sent on cable through out both the UP and LP. By microwave WXON had ON-TV after 8pm so on out of market cable the signal would just get shutoff when ONs programming was being transmitted WKBD signal would shut down at 12:30 every night on cable however the station would still be broadcasting

 

[satjay]

In Michigan Detroit's WKBD and WXON signals were sent on cable through out both the UP and LP. By microwave WXON had ON-TV after 8pm so on out of market cable the signal would just get shutoff when ONs programming was being transmitted WKBD signal would shut down at 12:30 every night on cable however the station would still be broadcasting

I remember when WKBD would start out in thee morning with the US and Canadian anthems and various PSA, I see that it's WKBD 50, 50th year that they are acknowledging. Would be cool if they showed programming from the various years

Just for the fun of it wish I would have kept at least LA or NY supers

 

[Blackloz]

That's one of the few reasons we keep Bell going is the super stations in HD. We get Peachtree, WSBK, WGN 9, PIX 11 and KTLA. If they ever go away I might have to rethink our subscription.

 

[EarDemon]

In the mid-late ‘90s before the rise of the RSNs, I loved the superstation package. It was like a poor man’s MLB Extra Innings. Yankees and Mets on WWOR and WPIX, Rockies on KWGN, Dodgers on KTLA and Bruins hockey on WSBK. I used to enjoy the WPIX 10PM News and I liked their morning show when they launched it. When I had cable the first go around, WPIX and WWOR were offered on basic cable in upstate NY. Shortly after we got our own WB and UPN affiliates both were removed. The cable version of WGN used to be very close with what WGN 9 in Chicago showed, but over time they got to be very different. Both Canadian DBS services used to, and may very well still offer a superstation package with most of the channels Dish had in theirs, plus WGN 9.